REVIEW: Delightful 'Barnum' blows the roof off the big top

Monday

Apr 10, 2017 at 11:18 AMApr 10, 2017 at 2:07 PM

Moonbox Productions' latest is a circus spectacular.

Peter Chianca pchianca@wickedlocal.com @pchianca

It’s a mystery why “Barnum” isn’t produced more often. One of the brightest and cleverest musicals of its era, with a sharp book by Mark Bramble and immediately endearing music and lyrics by Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart, it can be a tremendously engaging circus-themed crowd-pleaser if done right.

And I’m happy to report that in its current run, Moonbox Productions and director/choreographer Rachel Bertone do “Barnum” right, and then some.

The 1980 musical is best remembered for a Tony-winning performance by Jim Dale as the humbug-prone circus impresario, and it’s always been a show that lives or dies by its Barnum. Fortunately for the current iteration, Todd Yard does Dale proud, bringing a winning energy and charming wit to the role.

Not to mention stamina: On stage the whole show, Yard has to juggle, swing from an acrobat’s hoop and engage in fleet-footed dance routines, all while hitting every note. Even trickier, he has to find a way to make audiences sympathize with an inveterate con man who in real life, let’s face it, was kind of a jerk.

It’s a testament to Yard’s preparation and natural charisma that he makes every one of those tricky tasks look easy -- never more so than during his rollicking triple-time patter number “Museum Song,” which, coming directly on the heels of the equally energetic “One Brick At A Time,” is a marvel.

But Yard’s husky tenor serves him well throughout, equally well-suited to Barnum’s lively, winking theme song “There Is A Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute” as it is to “The Colors of My Life,” the central ballad Barnum shares with his long-suffering wife, Charity.

Shonna Cirone’s Charity grounds both Barnum and the show, exuding quiet dignity even as she’s frustrated, and eventually betrayed, by her husband’s need to “shoot through the night like a flaming arrow” (as he sings on the stirring Act 1 closer “Out There”). Like most true-story musicals, “Barnum” paints its characters with broad strokes, but Cirone’s performance is a triumph of internal struggles revealed in subtle gestures and knowing glances.

She also has a warm, engaging alto voice that shines brightest on the aforementioned “One Brick,” one of several numbers in which director/choreographer Bertone takes full advantage of every inch of the intimate stage (and Cameron McEachern’s delightful set design), and also of the impressive physical talents of her buoyant ensemble. As bricks fly through the air and clowns spin and tumble, a big-top energy permeates the entirety of the Robert Studio Theatre.

Bertone make some great choices as far as what she kept from the Broadway production, including the aforementioned flying bricks, and what she jettisoned -- Dale’s tightrope walk, no doubt a nightly source of anxiety for performers and audience alike, is wisely replaced by Yard’s almost-as-acrobatic turns on the hanging hoop. The result is a tight, lively production that lasts only a little over two hours but feels pulsating and alive the entire time.

The ensemble deserves no small amount of credit for that, tasked as they are with sustaining the circus atmosphere through a constant barrage of magic tricks, juggling, acrobatics, clowning and the occasional unicycle ride. Yard would be out on a tightrope without a pole if he didn’t have their verve and personality to buoy him, and they more than earn several bouts of mid-song applause for their acrobatic efforts. (Even their set changes get ovations.) It was a pleasure to see each ensemble member get a much-deserved individual curtain call.

Several ensemble members also stood out in individual supporting roles, including Bransen Gates’ lively solo turn as Gen. Tom Thumb singing “Bigger Isn’t Better,” and especially Carla Martinez, whose “Oldest Woman in the World” Joice Heth practically steals Act 1 with “Thank God I’m Old.” And in the show’s other featured performances, Jessica Kundla rocks an impressive soprano (and Swedish accent) as Jenny Lind, and Zaven Ovian’s three-ring narration as the Ringmaster provides the glue that holds the production together.

Not all of “Barnum” has aged perfectly in the 37 years since its debut -- the too-poppy Barnum/Charity duet “I Like Your Style” seems vaguely out of place, for one. But in our current era of media and political humbug, much of it seems more relevant than ever.

Most importantly though, with so many modern shows seeming interminable, obtuse or just plain dark, this production is a stellar throwback to the instantly appealing, family-friendly musicals of the last century. In short, you’d have to be a sucker not to catch Moonbox’s “Barnum” while it’s in Boston.